Metamorphosis

A rush of pity swept over me when I saw her. Her
small, pale face, streaked with dirt, was framed by a
mass of matted hair. There she crouched, on the
garbage heap, staring wide-eyed at Tipu, who was
barking furiously at her. 

I drew closer. Encouraged, Tipu lunged at the child.
He tugged angrily at her tattered dress. The girl
shrieked. 

"Down, Tipu!" I cried, running towards her.
She held an old, broken toy, in one hand. I recognis-
ed it at once, for it belonged to Baby, my little sister.
No wonder the dog was barking! How was he to know
that Baby, who grew tired of toys as fast as she got
them, had discarded this doll. 

"You want it?" I asked the girl. She only clutched
the doJl closer to her. I gently drew the toy away from
her reluctant fingers. Then I handed it back to her
with a flourish. 

"Look, Tipu. She didn't steal it. I've given her the
toy." Satisfied, Tipu dashed off in search of fresher
pastures. 

The look in those eyes did something to me, for I
found myself asking gently, "D'you want more toys?"
I remembered all the junk that littered Baby's room. 
The girl nodded.
"Look, that's my house. Come over' this evening. 
All right?"

The girl tucked the doll carefully in ttae folds of her 
rags. Then she bent down and startesd scrounging
around in the waste heap. 
The picture haunted me the whole (flay at school.
What, I wondered, was that child doing in that dirty
stinking heap? 

"A penny for your thoughts, Sunila!" Nina, my
friend, broke the silence. .. 
"Poor girl! Wish I could help her!"
"Which girl?'' asked Nina, puzzled.

I told her about the kid. "I'll give hier more toys, 
Nina, and Baby's old frocks. Maybe wte could teach
her too! Let's do something for her, Nima. She... she
looked so bad..,." 
"Oh come on, Sunila!" interrupted Mina, laughing.
"What can we do? That's hei life. I'mswre she's quite
happy." 

"No," I said stubbornly, "she doesn't even go to
school, I'm sure. Let's try to do something to make her
happy!" 
"Oh, you and your bright ideas!"
Nina's scorn did not dampen my zeal. Armed with 
an old dress and toy, I waited for the little girl to

turn up. 

She did. I ran my eyes over her. 'I'll begin by

making her wea* a clean dress,' I thought. 'After that

maybe I could persuade her to comb heir hair. Then I

would try to teach her ' 

"Sunila! Who's that?" an imperious voice asked.

My grandmother was standing in the verandah. 

The girl trembled before her august presence. My

grandmother is tall and with her bright silver hair, 

looks rather impressive. The girl must have been scared

for she turned to flee. 

I caught her hand.

"Sunila! Don't you touch that girl!" shrieked 

Grandmother.

"Why not, Dadi?"* 

"She's the sweeper's daughter. You must not touch

her," said Grandmother, as she glanced suspiciously at

me. "What do you want to do with her anyway?" 

"I.. .1 want to teach her," I answered.

"Ram, Ram! What's wrong with you, girl? Didn't I 

tell you she's the sweeper's daughter? An untouchable!"

Grandmother and her old-fashioned ideas!

"Oh, come on, Dadi," I ventured, "how does that 

matter? We've been taught in school that we're all

equal!" 

But Grandmother was not listening. She had turned

to the girl, "Be off with you, child!" 

Her words made me indignant. I looked at the

frightened girl, "Wait! What's your name?" 

"Ka.. .Kaushalya," answered a meek, soft voice.

"Will you come again tomorrow, Kaushalya?" I 

asked her gently, "and take this. It's for you." I gave

Grandmother a defiant look. 

Kaushalya snatched the frock and fled.

The next evening Grandmother stationed herself 

strategically in the front verandah. I knew she was

waiting to pounce on Kaushalya. But I could be clever

too. I heard the click of the gate and rushed out. I

met Kaushalya before she entered the lion's den. 

There was another, older girl with Kaushalya.

"Bunia, my sister," she explained. 

I learnt more about the two sisters. They did not go

to school. Instead, they worked. Bunia looked after the 

younger kids and kept house while their mother went

out to clean the streets and houses. Kaushalya's job

was to search garbage dumps for trash and paper

scraps, which their mother sold for a few paise. She

also picked up cowdung from the streets. This was

dried into flat cakes by Bunia and sold or used as fuel.

The children's father was too lazy to do anything except

eat, sleep, drink and beat up the family. 

What a miserable life, I thought. More than ever,

I wished I could give them just a bit of happiness.

Surely I was not wrong in trying to help? 

But Grandmother did not think so.

"Sunila! Go and bathe at once!" she ordered when 

I entered the house, "and stop mixing with those dirty

kids." 

"I'll make them clean, Dadi," I promised.

"Humph. They'll remain what they are. You can-

not change them!"

"And what are they, pray?" I retorted rudely. I 

was seething with anger. "Aren't they human beings

like us?" 

With that I ran into my room and slammed the

door. 

Fortunately, Mummy was more understanding.

She was generous with old clothes, eats and words of

advice. Nina joined me too. We began giving lessons

to the two untouchable girls. I had helped Baby with

her homework quite often and the experience came in

handy. But we did not dare take the sisters into the

house. Grandmother would have thrown a fit! Instead,

we confined our meetings to the garden and bathed

afterwards. 

One day, even this arrangement failed. Grandmother,

freshly bathed, came into the garden to gather

flowers for her puja. On her way back.. horror of

horrors.. .she bumped into Kaushalya! It was enough

to spark off fireworks. 

"Hai hai! The girl's touched me! I'm soiled! Chhi

—chhi—chhi! Baku* will you come here? Did you see

what happened?" 

Mummy came running out of the kitchen.

Grandmother stormed at her. Mummy was silent. 

Finally Grandmother gave an ultimatum, "Either you

get rid of those filthy kids, Baku, or I'll leave this

house!" 

With that Grandmother walked off.

Kaushalya's small face grew smaller, while her eyes, 

round and large, looked hurt and ashamed. Bunia, her

sister, hastened to put an arm around her. She looked

appealingly at Mummy, waiting for the verdict. 

Mummy set her lips into a firm line. "Sunila, the

kids will have to go!" she said. 

We could not believe it. Mummy was taking Grandmother's

side.

"Surely you don't mean it, Mummy?" I cried,

"They were doing so well! Learning so fast " 

I stopped. There was no need to argue further. The

two girls had fled. They did not come back. 

* * * 

Grandmother liked to go for a walk every morning.

That Sunday, Nina and I were hanging at the gate,

chatting, when Grandmother came out, resplendent in

crisp white, her silver hair gleaming, and an elegant

walking stick in her hand. 

"Would you like to take a walk with me, Sunila?"

I ignored the peace offer. 1 had not forgiven her for 

driving the children away.

"A spoil-sport," I commented sourly as Grand-

mother's back receded into the distance. 

"Don't be rude," protested Nina.

"Why not? She's a hypocrite. All that puja and 

prayer she does! How can she be unkind to poor little

kids? If that's her religion " 

My indignant speech was interrupted by loud

shrieks. We rushed out to see. 

"Give me that coin!" screamed a man.

"I won't. It's mine. I earned it!" we could hear a 

young girl shouting back.

We ran on, for the voice was familiar. We found 

Grandmother standing on the road, staring at a strange

scene. A little girl raced down the street, pursued

closely by a thin, dark man. I recognised Kaushalya. 

Fists clenched, eyes desperate, Kaushalya sped past

Grandmother, the man at her heels. The next moment

he had caught Kaushalya. 

"Bachao! Bachao!"* she screamed.

"So you won't give the money?" leered the man, 

trying to prise open her fist. Kaushalya fought like a

cat. "No, no! Maa told me to keep it for buying rice!" 

The man used all his brute strength to wrench the

money from the small fist. 

"Babuji, leave her!" we heard, as Bunia came

running to her sister's help. "You'll use the money for

drinking. You know we need it for rice." 

This only angered the man. He glared at Bunia and

shook Kaushalya hard. Still she refused to part with

the precious coin. Enraged, the man slapped her.

Bunia tried to pull her sister away. Her father raised

his hand. 

Slap! Slap! Slap!

The piercing sharp sounds made my head whirl 

with rage. Kaushalya reeled, staggered a few steps,

and collapsed, right near Grandmother's feet. The old 

lady stepped back hastily.

The coin fell with a tinkle on the hard pavement. 

With a cry of triumph the man pounced on it.

"I've got it! At last."

I could watch no longer.

"Catch that man!" I shouted and rushed forward. 

I had only one thought in my mind. That money must

be restored to Kaushalya. But the coward had fled.

Nina and I raced after him, watched by a dazed Bunia. 

I was conscious of Grandmother's shocked eyes as

I ran past her. A crowd watched us, but I did not care.

We must catch him, we must. 

We drew close to him. I stretched out my arm and

caught the man's shirt. He turned, dodged and fled

back the way he had come. He was out of our reach

once again. Desperately, we kept running after him. 

The man was again racing past Grandmother. I saw

Grandmother thrust out her walking stick as he sped.

Down he fell flat on his face. 

Quickly the man staggered to his feet. By then

Grandmother had stepped forward. 

"You...you scoundrel!" raged her sharp voice.

"How dare you take that money? Return it to the poor

girl, this very instant!" 

The man quailed before Grandmother's regal

presence and her voice of authority. He looked at the

old lady standing tall and erect before him and mumbled

apologetically,

"I...1 was only " 

"Return the coin, I say," Grandmother spoke

sharply. The man couldn't move. Grandmother's stern

eyes were fixed on him. 

He handed the coin to Bunia reluctantly and slunk off. 

Grandmother looked at us. She was smiling. "That

was very brave of you, girls!" 

She walked over to Kaushalya who lay on the

groound, eyes closed i big, ugly bruise on her cheek.

Shte was unconscious. 

A strange, soft lock replaced Grandmother's usually

stesrn expression as ste gazed at the thin, stunned figure

lyiing at her feet. She suddenly looked up and met our 

pu:zzled eyes.

"Come on girls! Don't stand and stare! Let's take 

thiis child into the hoise."

"What?" I cried, wondering whether I had heard 

heir right. "But.. .but, you said...."

"Never mind what I said " interrupted Grand-

mother tersely. "After all, she's a human being."

As Grandmother stooped to lift the matted hair off 

the small, dirty face, Kaushalya opened her eyes.